Producer: Higa Tea
Origin: Okinawa
Brewing Parameters: 1 2g tea bag; brewed 1 min. with boiling water (recommended time and temp. not specified)
Appearance: Rectangular nylon tea bag with dark green tea fannings; there may be some Jasmine flower petals
Rating: B | 87/100
# of Brews: 1
Tasting Notes and Thoughts
Wow, it's been a while since I've done a teabag review. If you don't remember, the way I do these is just brewing the tea, and sipping on the cup until I get a decent flavor profile. In most cases, it's one cup, with no additives, like milk or sugar (even with teas like Earl Grey or English Breakfast, where I'd normally add something).
Anyway, here's the review. Now, I admit that brewing a green tea in boiling water isn't necessarily the best practice, but I'm surprised at how well it turned out. There was a very slight bitterness, which I believe isn't the result of mis-brewing, but rather the type of tea. From reading about it, Sanpin cha is a specialty of Okinawa; instead of being prepared like a traditional Japanese green (such as a sencha), it's prepared more like a Chinese green. I'm not necessarily sure on the processing techniques, but I'm going to guess that it's pan-heated rather than steamed. The taste is surprisingly similar to other Chinese green teas I've had– I can't put a name on it, but it's more easily brewed, tastier version of a Jasmine green from MK Teas (which I received from a tea exchange).
The profile goes like this: it starts out with the mellow, floral Jasmine notes, which quickly dissipate into a sharp tangy note with a hint of bitterness. As for the texture, it's smooth (bar that slight bitter taste) that leaves sort of a waxy taste in the mouth. The throat can get a bit dry if you drink this tea a bit fast, though. Overall, this is one of the better Jasmine teas I've had; I'd like to get my hands on some loose leaf of this tea, but for the convenience, the tea bags will have to do.
Other Notes
To be honest, the only reason I wrote today's review is so I could talk about this year's California Extreme, which was one of the best. Originally, I was going to go with two other friends, but one dropped out last minute (despite us planning this for a couple of months). We ended up replacing him, with it all working out since the friend that dropped out still had his info in the system (so the new guy got his name tag and everything). When we got there and had the whole missing friend-volunteer situation sorted out, we had a two hour shift of essentially just putting wristbands on people. During the shift, we made friends with one of our coworkers, who turned out to be a pretty stand up guy– friendly and entertaining (not in a bad way).
Afterwards, we picked up some free shirts, played a few games on the show floor, and walked to In N Out (which was a decent distance away) for lunch. Once we got back, we hung around a bit more on the floor playing more games; however, we felt like the games on the floor weren't all that great– mainly because they've been the same for the past few years and some of our favorite games were either gone or busy. We did play quite a bit of Ferrari simulator (time trial competition between the group), pinball, rhythm games, and Lupin the 3rd Typing (at least I did).
The highlight of the day comes from outside of the main floor, when we had an adventure around the hotel. Bored, we decided to take the elevator up to the 14th floor and then explored the stairwell. We eventually found our way to the Rockage SJ showcase, where we played a ton of Nidhogg and some sumo wrestler game on the arcade machine built by the Game Dev club at SJSU. The most memorable part of the night came when Super Soul Bros (the band playing at the time) told us to go onto Rainbow Road on Mario Kart 64. When we did, they began to play the theme of the course as a live soundtrack, even speeding up when we reached the final lap. After our race, they played one last song to close the concert, and we left.
Before going home, the three of us got onto our favorite game– The Grid. We played the last 20-30 minutes we had at CAX on those machines, went to have dinner, then went home. All in all, a pretty memorable night.
Afterwards, we picked up some free shirts, played a few games on the show floor, and walked to In N Out (which was a decent distance away) for lunch. Once we got back, we hung around a bit more on the floor playing more games; however, we felt like the games on the floor weren't all that great– mainly because they've been the same for the past few years and some of our favorite games were either gone or busy. We did play quite a bit of Ferrari simulator (time trial competition between the group), pinball, rhythm games, and Lupin the 3rd Typing (at least I did).
The highlight of the day comes from outside of the main floor, when we had an adventure around the hotel. Bored, we decided to take the elevator up to the 14th floor and then explored the stairwell. We eventually found our way to the Rockage SJ showcase, where we played a ton of Nidhogg and some sumo wrestler game on the arcade machine built by the Game Dev club at SJSU. The most memorable part of the night came when Super Soul Bros (the band playing at the time) told us to go onto Rainbow Road on Mario Kart 64. When we did, they began to play the theme of the course as a live soundtrack, even speeding up when we reached the final lap. After our race, they played one last song to close the concert, and we left.
Before going home, the three of us got onto our favorite game– The Grid. We played the last 20-30 minutes we had at CAX on those machines, went to have dinner, then went home. All in all, a pretty memorable night.
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